Former Great Britain competitor Paula Radcliffe has called for "strong action" to be taken following the release of the World Anti-Doping Agency commission report.
WADA has recommended that Russia be banned from all future athletics competitions due to widespread allegations of doping, cover-ups and extortion among athletes.
World governing body for athletics, the IAAF, also came under fire in the report for "systematic failure".
Many top athletes have now reacted to the news, with Radcliffe taking to Twitter to say: "Just got off plane to catch up on these damning and serious revelations. Too much to address in tweets: bottom line - truth eventually comes.
"Suspected some of this for years but way worse than imagined. Athletics needs to take strong action and move quickly forward in right direction."
British heptathlete Louise Hazel added: "I am disappointed but I am not surprised that doping continues to be rife through the world of athletics. I have been in situations where I have seen athletes doping right before my eyes.
"Giving athletes a two-year ban and allowing them to come back to compete for gold medals is just not good enough. Full-time bans and you are out of the sport. Simple as that."
It was also suggested in the findings of the damning report that the London 2012 Olympics were "sabotaged" by the participation of Russian athletes who were under suspicion of drug use to bolster their performance levels.
